THE DOUBLE EDGED SAMURAI SWORD

LOCKDOWN DIARIES IS A SERIES WE WILL BE RUNNING WHERE WE SPEAK TO BALI BASED DJS ON THEIR STORY OF THE TOUGHEST TIME THE ISLAND HAS KNOWN AND HOW THEY HAVE COPED AND WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN UP TO AND WE WERE INSPIRED TO DO THIS FROM HEARING THE STORY OF THIS MAN . . . KAISER WALDON.

KAISER WALDON

www.secretbali.life

@secretbalilife

Kaiser was and still is of course one of the most popular and established DJ’s on the circuit in Bali when the corona virus took its toll and closed down nearly every venue and cost DJ’s like Kaiser dearly as this meant an extended period of no work.

Rather than sit at home watching netflix or making banana bread, Kaiser blessed with financial support from his family, got his head down in the studio and inspired by a certain andy weatherall, who passed away recently, amongst other moments of inspiration, created some absolute belters as well as an alter ego but we will leave the man him self to tell you more.

But before you do we suggest you hit play on this awesome track from the man himself, created during lockdown which he talks about later on in the article . . . sit back and we hope you enjoy what is one of the most honest and real interviews we have ever done with any artist in Bali as he talks about his music, his craft and how we has battled with depression and turned it into something beautiful through the studio.

HOW DID YOU TAKE THE INITIAL HIT WHEN YOU LOST ALL YOUR GIGS PRETTY MUCH OVERNIGHT? Firstly, I’d just like to say Hi, Its great to reconnect and this feels like the right place to reconnect my self to the public domain of the internet world again.. Hmmm.. I reacted with mixed emotions.. to be honest I was djing too much (I know that now) but when you’re in the trenches you don’t get the chance to pause and reflect you just keep going and going. I’m grateful for that, though at the same time I was able to play in many different settings and share different aspects of my sound and playing styles. All of which I really enjoy. Back to the question, sorry, I’m a bit chatty since Its been a long time being social.. When I got the text on the Monday morning, telling me 90% of my work was effectively over, I knew this was serious. I guess I took it pretty well, I had some savings but didn’t consider just how long this period would last. I was at burn out stage, with all the gigging and music making, my life was totally out of balance. I mean it must be similar for many creative / artist types, that our biggest challenge is to get that balance right with sleeping, vs making art when those moment of inspiration strike us anywhere anytime vs also having the work ethic to constantly be creative even when you don’t feel it. The latter being one being the hardest aspects yet most rewarding methods. Someone once told me, (I’m gonna paraphrase Picaso here) “Inspiration is always there but it has to find you working first.” Personally speaking I find there is a lot of truth in that once you get into the zone, flow or groove that creative magic starts to happen.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE HARDEST ASPECTS OF THE LAST FEW MONTHS FOR YOU TO DEAL WITH AS A DJ IN BALI? Money, Mental & Physical Health. Without a doubt these have been my personal battles, the anxiety, the depression, the insomnia, and overall vibe out there of uncertainty and anxiety is hard not to ignore. Everyone is in the trenches, suffering, going through their own challenges so you can’t help but feel that. I guess during the great depression pre world war 2 this is what people were going through. I hope we don’t follow that trend into world war 3.. lets not go there though. Being honest with myself, I am mostly responsible for the 3 things I mentioned. Had I had better habits and systems in place I would have probably not been as effected by each of these factors. So that’s been a huge insight and great realisation into where I need to put my focus and priorities moving forward. Thankfully on the money front my mum very kindly offered to help me out and threw me a lifeline on the promise I went into the studio and used the time wisely. I am blessed and hope to make her proud!

WE WILL COME ONTO YOUR STUDIO WORK IN A SECOND BUT WAS THAT STUDIO TIME YOUR INITIAL PLAN FROM THE OFFSET OR WAS IT SOMETHING YOU DEVELOPED AS THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION AND HOW LONG YOU WOULD BE UNABLE TO PLAY OUT AGAIN BECAME APPARENT? The funny thing is, when I moved to Bali it was never to promote events and even to DJ all that much. I moved here to be in a place where I could spend hours and hours learning music, learning production then applying that and relating that process while going on a journey of seeking out inspiration from listening to music, sharing time with friends and having them show me music they like or produced. But it didn’t really happen like that, after the first few months which were tough due to my agent not processing my Kitas. Once I got that, it was non stop gigs. So after my gigs I would be inspired and buzzing and make music. That has really taken a toll on me, so I have spent quite a bit of time, not doing much at all! Once it became obvious that I needed to re think how I make a living, I came up with a few ideas, but somehow I always came back to the focus of my initial intention to why I came here. That being to learn, develop practice and grow as a artist, producer, musician and DJ. I always said to myself I’m going to take 2 months off and commit to intense learning and writing 4 years later and that never happened. So if I’m being honest this pandemic has created a situation where I’m lucky enough to actually embrace it. There is literally no excuse, the music world is on lock down.